The present invention relates to a tire pressure monitoring system for a vehicle and particularly one which can identify the location of a tire without reprogramming upon rotation of tires on the vehicle.
The utilization of tire pressure monitors has been described in numerous patents in which tire pressure sensors have been mounted in the wheel, attached to the valve stem, or embedded in the tire itself. Such systems typically use a sensor and associated circuit for each tire which transmits a modulated radio frequency signal to a receiver in the vehicle for sending information indicating when the pressure of a tire has reached a predetermined low threshold. The receiver and associated circuitry, upon receipt of information indicating a low pressure condition, provides the driver with an alerting signal to the low tire pressure condition. Many systems utilize a tire pressure sensor and transmitter which uniquely identify each tire with an identification code also transmitted to the receiver such that not only is the operator made aware of the existence of a low pressure condition in one of the tires, the tire location is also identified. U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,651 discloses one such system in which the frequency of the transmitted signal identifies the tire. In other systems, a binary code identifying each tire is employed.
A problem with such systems occurs upon the rotation of tires, which is recommended on a frequent basis by many tire or vehicle manufacturers. Thus, tires are rotated from front to rear, from side to side, or both to promote even wear. In such case, a tire which originally was identified to the operator as being located, for example, on the left front of the vehicle may now be located on the right rear and a system which identifies tire location would now indicate a tire problem at the wrong location to the vehicle operator. It has been suggested that this problem can be overcome by reprogramming the tire location as suggested by, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,463,374 where it is necessary to manually place a strong magnet near each of the remote wheel-mounted transmitters upon rotation of a tire to reidentify the location of the tire. This not only requires a manual step of having the operator or service personnel place a magnet near each tire, it also requires the tire-mounted transmitter to include a magnetic switch as part of the mechanism, thereby adding to the cost, reliability and complexity of the overall system. Other approaches also suggest the use of a service tool which must be manually coupled to each tire to reprogram the tire location upon rotation of the tires.
Thus, with existing systems, the rotation of tires on a vehicle requires intervention, typically with service personnel or by an operator sufficiently skilled to reprogram the tire location, so that the monitoring system can recognize the new location of a tire. There exists a need, therefore, for a system which allows rotation of tires on a vehicle and which automatically identifies the new tire location to the system display and monitor.
With the introduction of "run-flat" tires, a new tire related problem has also been introduced, namely, the requirement that an operator only drive on a "run-flat" tire for about fifty miles at a maximum speed of 55 mph. There is a need also, therefore, to notify a driver that a "run-flat" tire has lost its pressure and alert the driver to the speed and distance limitations upon such occurrence.